


It's Alright

by Idiotgangleader



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 11:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9438023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idiotgangleader/pseuds/Idiotgangleader
Summary: Jacob and Evie have a fight and Jacob has a dream about his father and all the things that were left unsaid between them.





	

Throwing his coat and hat across the cart, he plopped down onto his couch and ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to think of something to distract himself from the shit storm he just came from. Frustration and anger seeping through his veins as thoughts from just a few minutes earlier lingered in his mind. Must she bring him up all the time?!

He had just come out of a very heated argument with Evie about how he handled a shipment of contraband. Needless to say that she did not approve of his methods. This included a rather large amount of explosions. But that wasn’t what got him all bothered. No, he was used to her constant nagging about how she didn’t care for his tactics. He had lived with that ever since they became assassins. But she had also mentioned someone else who didn’t approve of him; someone who would never approve of him.

He could swear sometimes that Evie only brought up their father because she knew that it made him angry. What did it matter what their father thought? He was dead, he wasn’t coming back. They were on their own. Biting his lip at the familiar emptiness in his chest, he flipped around and lay back against the couch. It was no use getting more upset over it now. Tomorrow was another day and by then, hopefully this would be behind both of them. At least he hoped. Or perhaps she would refuse to talk to him for a few days, he didn’t know.

After blowing the candle by his bedside table out, he placed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. Running from missions and emotional stress made him exhausted, and it wasn’t long until sleep took hold of him…

The next thing he knew, he was walking aimlessly down a hallway. An oddly familiar hallway. Feeling extremely uneasy, he turned the corner and saw the living room that belonged to a house that he knew very well. A house he hoped to never be in again. Their old house in Crawley. As a feeling of dread fell onto him, he noticed what looked like a letter on one of the tables. Curiously, he walked over and picked it up; only for the feeling of dread to increase tenfold.

Dear Mr. and Ms. Frye

We express our condolescences at the death of your father.

He remembered reading this. He also remembered crumpling it up and shredding it into a million pieces. If this was here, then…no. This had to be the day of their father’s funeral. No…it couldn’t be. This had to be a nightmare. It had to be…

Biting his lip, he crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it across the room before plunging his fist into the wall.

“I expect you to pick that up.”

That voice…no…it couldn’t be…it wasn’t possible…

Shooting his body around, he looked up to see the unmistakable face of the man he had convinced himself he hated the most, yet desperately longed to see again.

Ethan Frye

Jacob’s face went completely blank as he stared at his father. He looked so…normal. Everything from his clothes to the expression on his face. Jacob searched for something, any sign that this wasn’t the person he thought it was. Some mistake, some notification that this was some kind of trick. But there was none. The man was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, as he always did right before he gave Jacob a lecture or a scolding of some kind.

The young assassin didn’t know what to think. Part of him wanted to scream and shout all the unspoken hatreds that he had for his father, another part wanted to just drop his head down and listen to one, just one more lecture. And another part just wanted to run as far away from this godforsaken place as possible.

“What are you…you can’t be…you’re…I know you are…I saw you…you were…”

Jacob’s voice sounded so much more broken than he intended. And Ethan’s expression softened before raising his eyebrows in curiosity.

“Is dead the word you are looking for?” the man replied blankly but kept a strong gaze on Jacob’s face.

Jacob took in a sharp breath at the word. As if the word itself caused a sharp pain to enter his chest. He bit his lip as he desperately tried to figure out what to say or do. Or even what emotion he should be feeling right now. Afraid to utter another word at the fear of his voice cracking again, he nodded weakly.

A small smile graced the older assassin’s features.

“You’re being awfully quiet, boy. That’s not like you at all. Are you feeling ill?”

This time, Jacob gritted his teeth and stared at his father with anger filled eyes.

“Don’t taunt me! You have no right! You…why are you here?! What do you want?!”

This wasn’t right. This had to be a nightmare. It had to be…he bit his lip again and turned away from the man’ desperately wanting to get out of this place. He was almost expecting Evie to show up and to shout all of his failures and bad habits at him. If this was a nightmare, that seemed rather logical. But instead, he left a gentle hand on his shoulder. He flinched a little, but still turned to look at who the hand belonged to.

“You tell me, boy. You’re the one who called me here. Which means something’s wrong because usually you are storming out of the house trying to get away from me. So what’s wrong, lad?”

Jacob looked at Ethan cautiously, almost afraid to ask or say anything.

This was just like his father. Even when Jacob was screaming at him, he was so calm and collected. As if everything just bounced right off him.

“I called you here?” he asked nervously.

Ethan smiled a little before nodding.

“That you did. This is your dream after all.”

Jacob shook his head and turned away. He knew it was too good to be true.

“So you’re not really here then. You’re just an image in my head.” He whispered as he looked down on the ground and cursed himself when he felt his eyes begin to fill up. The last thing he wanted was for his father to see him crying. As if on cue, he heard Ethan sighed and a feeling of dread filled him.

“Jacob, look at me.” The man said firmly.

Jacob bit his lip in a silent refusal. He couldn’t put into words why, but he couldn’t bear to meet his father’s gaze. It had been so easy back then, so easy to ignore his lectures. To ignore anything he said. But now, times were different, so very different. He wasn’t the same person he was before.

“Look at me, son.”

This made Jacob’s breath hitch. His father’s usual gruff demeanor was absent. And he could only remember a handful of times when the man would refer to him as “son”. Cautiously, he slowly met his father’s gaze. Bracing himself for any words that the man had to say to him. He expected the gruff scolding eyes that he remembered his father having throughout his childhood. But instead they were…gentle, almost comforting.

“I’m here.”

They were two simple words. Two words that were a reply to his question. But they sounded much more like a parent trying to comfort their child. But that had to be wishful thinking on his part. Ethan had never really been one for comforting. Maybe when him and Evie were smaller children. Jacob struggled to keep his emotions in check but it was getting difficult. Cursing himself, he felt a single tear escape his eyes and immediately looked away from the older man.

Suddenly, he felt a calloused hand gently cup the side of his head and firmly bring his face back to look at Ethan’s. But he still stubbornly kept his eyes looking towards the ground.

“Never allow personal feelings to compromise the mission. This is not a mission.” Ethan whispered quietly as he ever so gently stroked a few strands of Jacob’s hair.

That was it. The young assassin’s eyes closed shut and all of the held back tears fell down his face as he tried to keep himself from openly sobbing. His resolve, however, went out the window when he felt Ethan’s hand gently guiding Jacob’s head to rest against his shoulder. How long had it been since the two of them embraced? How many years? There was one memory that stood out in his mind. His nine year old self had gotten his arm injured in a climbing accident and tried to hide it in fear of looking weak. By the time Ethan found out, the bones had started to heal the wrong way, and Jacob needed to have his bones reset. He didn’t remember too much about the pain. Only that there was a lot of it. And his father had held him tightly and allowed him to sob into his chest after the doctor had re broken his arm. But perhaps that was more so to keep him calm and restrained so that he didn’t aggravate the injury further. He did feel somewhat childish in this situation, but decided quickly that he didn’t really care very much about that. Gritting his teeth together, he sniffled quietly into his father’s shoulder.

“I should have done this more when you were young. Now it’s almost difficult. I swear you’ve gotten taller since the last I saw you.” Ethan mused as he began gently rubbing his son’s back.

All of the events that took place in the last year surface in his mind. Every failure, every misstep, and every reminder of how wrong he had been all those years and how it caused people to suffer. Little Clara and all those children who almost died because he recklessly murdered the head doctor of a hospital. And how it wasn’t until he was faced with the task of actually killing the children themselves did he realize that he was no better than the Templars. He wasn’t an assassin. He was a reckless killer. And it was far too late when he finally realized that his father was trying to prevent him from becoming that. But he simply didn’t listen.

“I-I’m…sorry…”

Jacob felt Ethan’s hand stiffen on his head and he suddenly became afraid of what his father would respond to that. Part of him felt like he didn’t deserve one.

“Come again?” The older man looked completely confused. As if that was the last answer he expected this son to give.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry for never listening to you…I-I’m sorry for…always sneaking off…when we were…s-supposed…to be training…I’m s-sorry for yelling…all of those horrible things to you…you were right…about so many things…I screwed up…s-so much…made so many mistakes…people suffered…”

He felt absolutely pathetic as he sobbed and pleaded to his father, but he needed to say it. He needed his father to know that he was right all along. Memories of that horrible Alhambra, the smell of smoke and burning flesh. And the screams…damn those screams…All because he had been too reckless and too trusting. He didn’t think things through, like he was told to so many times.

The last thing he expected was exactly what Ethan did next.

He wrapped his arms around Jacob and pulled him into a tight embrace. Stroking his son’s hair and allowing the young man to cry it out a little before speaking.

“It’s alright, son. It’s alright.” He whispered as he embraced his son. Something he too rarely did when he was alive.

“If anyone should beg for forgiveness, it should be me. I made mistakes…I let my personal grievances compromise my responsibilities, and I abandoned you and your sister. For six years I turned my back on you, and then expected you to respect me without question. I didn’t deserve that…and you deserved better…” His voice was still so calm and collected. But there were still genuine notes of regret.

Jacob’s sob slowly began to ease up and he cautiously returned his father’s embrace. It was slightly awkward, but very much needed.

“You’re…so much like your mother. You know that?” Ethan mused after a moment of silence.

At this, Jacob lifted his head up slightly from his father’s shoulder. Ethan never talked about their mother. Ever.

“Really?”

Ethan snickered in response.

“Oh yes, in terms of brashness and recklessness she was only slightly worse than you are.” He teased as he continued stroking Jacob’s hair.

“You remind me so much of her. Evie’s got her looks, but you definitely have her personality.” He whispered gently before pulling away slightly.

“At least you have my looks.”

This time, Jacob had to laugh as well. Even though his eyes were red and puffy and his cheeks were still tear stained. He had been told many times growing up that he was the spitting image of his father. Back then he would scoff it off, but now he welcomed it. This whole conversation with his father, it was as if a huge boulder had been lifted from his chest.

Suddenly, Ethan’s face got serious again and Jacob wondered if he had done something wrong. But Ethan only placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t apologize for your mistakes, lad. Learn from them. You are an exemplary assassin, both you and Evie. You will make more mistakes, but you cannot dwell on them forever. Learn from them to better yourself. I believe in you.”

Jacob bit his lip and nodded. This would be advice from his father that he definitely wouldn’t disregard.

“Good lad. Now, keep an eye your sister will you. She worries me too, sometimes.” He rolled his eyes before ruffling Jacob’s hair.

Jacob responded with a laugh. Yes he would definitely take that advice to heart as well. But then his eyes filled with sadness again at the thought of his father leaving again.

As if noticing this, Ethan pulled Jacob back into a tight embrace.

“I’ll be with you, son. Remember what I used to tell you and your sister when you were small? Daddy’s everywhere…”

Jacob let out a snort of laughter. He remembered when Ethan used to tell them that. For years he wondered how him and Evie couldn’t sneak off like they used to at their grandmother’s. It wasn’t until they discovered their own Eagle Vision that they had figured it out.

Letting out a sad sigh, Jacob dropped his forehead back down to his father’s shoulder. He didn’t want him to leave.

“I miss you.”

He felt Ethan stiffen a little bit before feeling the man giving him a reassuring squeeze and ruffling his hair.

“I miss you too, lad. Be good, alright? And no more messing around with dangerous Templar associates.” He scolded gently but still kept a gentle smile on his face.

Jacob’s head shot up in horror.

“You know about that?!” gasped as he stared at his father in fear and disbelief.

Ethan snickered again and cheekily brought Jacob’s head back to his shoulder, ruffling his hair affectionately.

“Boy, I’ve known since you were twelve.”

“Oh for goodness-fucking-sake…”

“Watch your language.”

“Yes, sir…”

Jacob woke with a start. Shooting up from the couch and looking around for his father. Instead, he only saw Evie kneeling down next to him with concerned eyes. It took him a minute to realize that he was awake and back on the train. Relaxing a little, he allowed himself to lean back against the edge of the couch.

“Are you alright, Jacob?” she whispered before reaching out to stroke his hair.

Taking a deep breath, he noticed that his nose was a little stuffy. Putting two and two together, he brought his hand up to his cheek. Low and behold, they were wet. She probably thought the fight caused him to have nightmares and felt guilty. Which wasn’t completely false but he certainly didn't hold it against her. 

Quickly wiping his face, he smiled at her before pulling her into a gentle embrace.

“I’m fine, Evie. I promise.” He assured her before stroking her hair.

And this time, he meant it.

**Author's Note:**

> This was so emotional for me to write because it reminds me so much of the relationship I have with my dad. Sorry for any potential tears.


End file.
